The Tactics of Authoritarianism: Fear

They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers call this a new order.  It is not new and it is not order.
                   Franklin Delano Roosevelt

American Jihadists? Yee-Fucking-Ha!!

I have been asked, through email and through comments, why I, as an atheist, give a flying fuck about theists — about what believers do, or think, or believe.  Why do I blog about religion and belief in god(s) if I am an unbeliever? 

There are many reasons I blog.  I blog to help me understand who I am.  I blog to poke fun at political and religious absurdity.  And I blog because I am scared abso-fucking-lutely shitless about the radical right.

Panties in a Bunch Over Pink Ouija Boards?

One of the toys that we three kids played with when I was younger was an Ouija board.  Oddly, no matter what question was asked, or by whom, the answer usually matched the thoughts of the oldest of the three.  Not little (((Billy))).  Harmless fun.  Well, for me, annoying.  For my older sisters, fun.

Years later, I discovered that Ouija boards were not viewed as harmless fun.  They were, according to one local preacher (local (at this time) being Western Maryland) decried the boards as a gateway to Satanism.  As marijuana leads inexorably to opium, so Ouija leads directly to Satanic cults, orgies, human sacrifice. atheism, Darwinism, voting Democrat, alcoholism, divorce, and viewing the Bible as allegorical.  Apparently, Christians (the specific subset of literalist Christians (and selected others)) are so insecure that they think a children’s game — a boring children’s game — is a threat to their belief system.

They Just Can’t Help Themselves, Can They?

The earthquake in Haiti is tragic and horrific.  And the response from America was quick — U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard units were underway within, literally, hours.  And the the response from one of the most prolific mouthpieces of the religious right was adding insult within, literally, hours.

Merry Teabagging Christmas

Teabaggers (and I’m using the political definition, not the sexual one) have a habit of making themselves look idiotic.  Stupid.  Moronic.  Insane.  And they keep finding new and better ways.  Faux New’s war on Christmas meme has permeated the radical right, both political and religious.  So it comes as no surprise that some Teabaggers have now jumped into the WoC, where they will (presumably) be stir fried.

What if America Was a Christian Nation?

Many conservatives (both political conservatives and religious conservatives) have a dream of transforming America from a secular democracy to a theocratic Christian democracy (picture Iran but with Robertson, Dobson, Haggard, etc. filling in for the Imams).  So how would America be different if that happened?

Breaking the Back of America

Conservatives are the backbone of America.  Their respect for the Constitution of the United States, their respect for the laws of America, their respect for the President of the United States of America (whether they agree with his political views or not), their battles for equal rights for all humans, and their Christian ethics, including a sense of love and respect for all life are the epitome of exemplars of good old fashioned Americanism to which we should all aspire.

A Kentucky Hat Trick of Stupid

I guess I am just not jaded enough.  I can still be surprised.  Case in point?  The state of Kentucky.  I really am beginning to wonder about Kentucky.  There seems to be a veritable plethora of stupid seeping out of the state.

I, like every other civil servant, make a sacrifice.  Any time that I am in uniform, or on duty, my freedom of speech and of action is limited.  I must, while in contact with the public, avoid certain topics and actions.  If I were to  make public statements about politics or religion, while in either work status or in my government uniform, it would be very easy for a member of the public to interpret my personal views as an official stance of the government of the United States of America.  It really does not matter if a person is an employee of a state, federal, county, local or city government, their freedom of speech is similarly constrained while on duty. 

The Right is Wrong Again: Gay Marriage Does not Hurt Marriage

Six years ago, the state supreme court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts handed down the utterly radical decision that human rights applied to all humans.  Not heterosexual humans.  Not Christian humans.  Not conservative humans.  All humans.  Including Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered humans.  Which meant, of course, that gay marriage, which is a civil human right (not a religious right), had to be legal in the commonwealth.

And, of course, the reaction of the radical right fringe of America was quick:

Republican Family Values: Bullshit!

The Republican Party, in a rather successful attempt to convince poor and middle class Americans to vote against their self-interest, have embrace the idea of family values.  They are anti-choice (because women are made to have babies), anti-birth-control (because if the sluts want to have sex, they damn well better get pregnant (otherwise, they might do it for pleasure)), anti-sex-education (because if you teach kids the facts about how their bodies work, they might get the wild idea that they can control their own fertility), anti-pornography (because we certainly don’t want humans to think that sex might be enjoyable), anti-GLBT (because we should ignore the Levitican proscriptions about shellfish and mixed fabrics and embrace the anti-homosexual message (without, of course, cherry-picking the Bible) and anti-freedom-of-though (because rational thought is the enemy of faith).